Starting an Online Store – the Easy Way

Would you like to have your own online store business?

The idea of being our own boss and running a successful business from home sounds great, but the thought of making it all happen can be overwhelming. The fact is that it has become extremely simple and affordable to do – even us little guys can do it.

What to Look for

However, knowing where to get started is the next problem to tackle. If you aren’t experienced with running an e-commerce or setting up a store, it makes sense to go with an e-commerce hosting solution that give you everything you need. By that, I mean…

• Website Design Templates
• Payment Processing Integration
• Order Processing Functions
• Inventory Management Tools
• Statistics Tracking Features
• Marketing Tools

Of course, it’s great to get lots more features, but these are the main ones that make running an online business much easier and more efficient. These all-in-one solution take a bunch of different jobs and do them all for you (or make them simpler). What that boils down to is a lot less headaches and more free time for you. A good thing.

If You Don’t Have Your Own Products

So what if you don’t have a product to sell? You can still open your own online store and sell products for other merchants. There are plenty of them out there looking for retailers.

If this is you, look for a hosting service that integrates third party drop-shipping services (ie. Doba or Shipwire). This makes setting up an online store much easier, because the programming work is already done for you. Just connect the two systems.

See also: Do you need a wholesale license to sell?

Marketing Your Online Store

Marketing plays a significant role in running any business, including an online store. This can be broken down into 2 parts:

1. Attracting visitors to your website
2. Converting those visitors into buyers

Believe it or not, an e-commerce hosting service can help store owners do both of these things. Automated technology that can now be integrated into retail websites is a no-brainer for entrepreneurs who want to run an online store as a single-person business.

What this means is that one person can create a high-tech online store with the latest widgets and selling tools – that looks like an entire team of entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley launched the site. Below are some examples…

Attracting Visitors to Your Site:

• Search engines like Google and Bing look for key information on websites in order to rank them in their listings. With the right hosting service, store owners don’t have to worry about what information they need to put where – the host guides you through the process quickly step-by-step.
• Instantly add social media share buttons next to your products so that people can share your items with their friends. This can turn into a big source of free advertising for shop owners (and no extra work!).
• Simultaneously list your merchandise on high-traffic networks like Nextag or Shopzilla. This means that shoppers can discover your products before they even visit your store!

Converting Visitors into Buyers:

• Offer downloadable and printable coupons right from your website. No high-tech knowledge required.
• Collect visitor emails with automated programs (even while you’re sleeping) and then connect with them later with special offers that get them to buy.
• Instantly add social media icons to your site, which help build visitor trust and give you another (free!) way to build your subscriber list.

What to Do Next

There are lots (I mean lots!) of e-commerce solutions, but there are just a few that offer all-in-one solutions that take loads of work off the store owner. We’ve listed a few below. They let you try out the services for free, which of course is a great way to see which one you like the best.

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• Volusion